Russians Slide To Gold, U.S. Takes Bronze In 4-Man Bobsled

The team from Russia RUS-1, with Alexander Zubkov, Alexey Negodaylo, Dmitry Trunenkov, and Alexey Voevoda, celebrate after winning gold during the men's four-man bobsled competition final at the 2014 Winter Olympics, on Sunday.

The team from Canada CAN-3, with Justin Kripps, Jesse Lumsden, Cody Sorensen and Ben Coakwell, slide down the track upside down after crashing in turn sixteen during the men's four-man bobsled competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics on Saturday.

Dita Alangkara
/ AP

Originally published on February 23, 2014 7:15 am

Russian's four-man bobsled team took gold on the final day of the Olympics hosted by their nation, with the U.S. pulling a bronze at the event and Canada's team escaping unscathed from a harrowing crackup.

"Zubkov won in a four-heat time of 3 minutes, 40.60 seconds, becoming just the sixth person to win four-man and two-man gold in the same Olympics."

"Melbardis missed out – by nine-hundredths of a second – on giving Latvia its first gold medal in Winter Olympics history, but he will take silver, and Holcomb, who held off Russia-2 pilot Alexander Kasjanov by three-hundredths of a second, snuck in for bronze."

The medals were determined a day after Canada was eliminated in a harrowing crash that basically flipped their sled in the second run of the event. Fortunately, no one was hurt.